Material arrangement for use as a floor covering



P. R. YOST Sept. 24, 1968 MATERIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR usE: AS A FLOOR COVERING Filed June 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l lea k (40.

I NVEN TOR. PHIL IPP R. YOST BY 7 %/w h1 ATTORNEY Sept. 24, 1968 P. R. YOST 3,403,068

MATERIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR USE AS A FLOOR COVERING TJFEA June 9 1 9 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PHIL/PP R. YOST ATTORNEY w mm United States Patent 3,403,068 MATERIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR USE AS A FLOOR COVERING Philipp Ross Yost, 1324 Broadway, San Francisco, Calif. 94109 Filed June 29, 1964, Ser. No. 378,788 11 Claims. (Cl. 161-130) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This is a fabric material arrangement particularly useful as a floor covering. A three-dimensional color varying effect is achieved by attachment of fabric, preferably of multicolored felt strips to a backing.

This invention relates generally to a material assembly and more specifically relates to an assembly of fabric particularly useful as a floor covering.

In the past, floor coverings generally consisted of a woven or twisted fabric of synthetic or natural materials which presented a substantially two dimensional appearance. Consequently, the color schemes that were used for each floor covering remained the same throughout the life thereof.

It is an object of this invention to provide a three dimensional material assembly.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a three dimensional fabric assembly particularly useful as a floor covering.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a three dimensional fabric assembly having a variable color pattern.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following description and drawings showing the article and in which like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views. It is to be understood, however, that the specific embodiments are shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

. In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the material assembly of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of another arrangement for the material assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 2A is a side elevational view of a material arrangement similar to FIGURE 1;

' FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of another material assembly embodiment in accordance with this invention; and

FIGURES 4, 5, 6, and 7 are top views of different strips of flexible material which can be substituted for at least some of the flexible material strips of FIGURE 1.

Briefly described, this invention relates to a material assembly composed of a base material and at least one layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material positioned on the base material. Preferably, the plurality of strips of flexible material are made of differently colored felt strips which are attached either to the base material or to other flexible strips.

Each of the flexible strips is provided with at least one free end portion which is movable with respect to the base material. The adjacent free end portions of adjacent strips of flexible material overlap each other so that movement of one of the free end portions of each strip in either transverse direction causes the free end portion to overlap the adjacent strip of flexible material.

3,403,068 Patented Sept. 24, 1968 'ice Consequently, the use of different colored strips of felt material provides a three dimensional fabric assembly which changes its color scheme each time any of the free end portions of the felt strips are moved with respect to each other.

Referring to FIGURE 1, a base material 10 preferably made of any desired fabric serves as a support for a plurality of strips of flexible material generally designated by the numeral 12. The strips of flexible material 12 are preferably of felt material which provides exceptional flexing characteristics.

The felt strips 12 located on the base material 10 consist of a first layer 14 of felt strips which are attached to the base material 10 and a second layer 16 of felt strips which are individually attached to individual stripsof the first layer .14. While FIGURE 1 depicts an arrangement of felt strips wherein alternate rows have one layer and intermediate rows have double layers of felt strips, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the entire assembly could be varied in any desired way with any desired arrangement. In fact, any number of layers of felt strips can be used having each layer attached to its supporting layer and the first or bottom layer would be attached to the base material.

Each of the felt strips of the first layer 14 is preferably attached along a center portion 14a such as by stitching, pasting, etc. to the base material .10. Similarly, a center portion 16a of each of the felt strips of the second layer 16 is attached to the center portion 14a of the supporting felt strips of the first layer 14.

A plurality of individual sections 18 are provided in the first felt strip layer 14 by means of slits 19 which are transverse to the axis of the center portion 14a. Similarly, a plurality of individual sections 20 are provided in the second felt strip layer 16 by means of slits 21 which are transverse to the axis of the center portion 16a. If desired, the slits 19 and 21 in each of the layers of felt can be omitted and each felt strip for each layer would still have two free end portions which would be movable with respect to the base material 10. However, by providing the individual sections 18 and 20, movement of these individual sections will create a changing pattern along both the axis of each felt strip and the length of the material assembly. The use of differently colored felt strips for the first and second layers is exceptionally advantageous since the movement of the individual sections 18 and 20 for the first and second layers, respectively creates a changing multicolor material assembly.

The center portions 14a and 16a of the first and second layers 14 and 16 respectively act as a support for the two free end portions of each felt strip. The slits 19 and 21 do not extend across the entire felt strips and the center portions 14a and 16a freely permit the free end portions to move in either transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal axis of each strip. The center portions 14a and 16a also provide support for maintaining the free end portions in a raised position with respect to the base material 10 and thereby permits the material assembly to depict a three dimensional configuration.

The sections 18 and 20 are shown to be substantially rectangular in FIGURE 1, but the widths and lengthsof each section need not be the same as either the widths and lengths of adjacent sections in the same strip or the widths and lengths of sections in other strips in either layer.

FIGURE 2 depicts -a one layer arrangement and FIG- URE 2A depicts an arrangement similar to the arrangement of FIGURE 1.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that any number of felt strips can be used as desired and these strips are preferably arranged in parallel rows. In addition, the spacings between the center portions 14a and 16a of each layer can be varied as desired. Preferably, the lengths of each of the two free end portions for each felt strip should be greater than the lengths between center portions of adjacent strips. This arrangement is beneficial since it permits the free end portions of each strip to be supported on the free end portions of adjacent strips and thus provides a true three dimensional effect. In addition, this arrangement usually prevents the base material from being seen which permits the use of fairly inexpensive material which need not be colored for effect. Furthermore, since the free end portions of each strip are generally in substantial contact with the free end portions of adjacent strips, cooperation between the free end portions of adjacent strips is permitted and movement of the free end portions of one strip will set off movement of the free end portions of adjacent strips and thus create a changing color pattern. In a specific example, the widths of the felt strips of the first layer 14 are four inches and the widths of the felt strips of the second layer 16 are three inches. The distance between the center portions of adjacent rows of single or double layer felt strips is one inch. Therefore, the lengths of each of the two free end portions of the first layer of felt is about two inches and the lengths of each of the two free end portions of the second layer of felt is about one and a half inches.

The double layer felt arrangement should preferably have the smaller width felt strip as the top layer and the larger width felt strip as the bottom layer since this arrangement permits the sections 20 of the second layer 16 to be supported in a raised position by the supporting sections 18 of the first layer 14. Accordingly, movement of the free end portions of the first layer across the center portion 14a of the felt strip would move the free end portion of a second layer strip in the same direction if there was a second layer of felt on the first layer. This movement would also create a changing color pattern.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment wherein each strip of flexible material 12 is attached at one end to the base material 10. In this arrangement, each felt strip would have only one free end portion which could, if desired, have a number of sections as shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 4, 5, 6, and 7 depict other configurations for the sections of either the first or second layers of felt strips. In FIGURE 4, sections 22 are shown to have a serrated end portion 24.

In FIGURE 5, sections 26 are shown to have a V shaped end portion 28. The arrangements of FIGURES 4 and are very functional in providing interesting configurations and color patterns. FIGURE 6 depicts another configuration for a felt strip wherein individual sections 30 have rounded end portions 32.

FIGURE 7 depicts a still further arrangement for a felt stri wherein sections 34 are provided with apertures 36 which can be circular as shown or of any desired configuration. This arrangement is advantageous since colors which might be covered by the free end portions of the section can be visible and this would provide double color effects on the free end portions of each felt strip.

While felt strips have been referred to in the above description, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that other materials can be used including plastics, paper, etc.

It will be readily apparent that many modifications and variations of this invention may be made by anyone skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth and without the use of any inventive ingenuity. Therefore, without limitation in this respect, the invention is defined by the fol-lowing claims.

I claim:

1. A material assembly comprising, in combination, a

4 base material, and a single layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material positioned in parallel rows on said base material, said plurality of strips of flexible material being attached to said base material, each one of said plurality of strips of flexible material having at least one free end portion, the adjacent free end portions of adjacent strips of flexible material overlapping each other, said plurality of strips of flexible material consisting of felt.

2. A material assembly comprising, in combination, a base material, and a single layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material positioned in parallel rows on said base material, said plurality of strips of flexible material being attached to said base material, each one of said plurality of strips of flexible material having at least one free end portion, the adjacent free end portions of adjacent strips of flexible material overlapping each other, said plurality of strips of flexible material consisting of felt, said free end portion of each of said plurality of strips of felt comprising a plurality of sections each of which is independently movable with respect to the others.

3. A material assembly comprising, in combination, a base material, and a single layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material positioned on said base material, each one of said plurality of strips of flexible material being attached along substantially the center portion thereof to said base material, each of said strips of flexible material having two free end portions extending from the center portion, the adjacent free end portions of adjacent strips of flexible material overlapping each other, the length of each of said two free end portions of each strip of flexible material being greater than th length between center portions of adjacent strips of flexible material, said plurality of strips of flexible material consisting of felt and being arranged in parallel rows, each of said two free end portions comprising a plurality of sections each of which is independently movable with respect to the others.

4. A material assembly in accordance with claim 3, in which each of said plurality of sections of each strip of felt having the same configuration as the other sections of said felt strip.

5. A material assembly in accordance with claim 3, in which portions of said plurality of sections of each strip of felt having different configurations than the other sections of said felt strip.

6. A material assembly in accordance with claim 3, in which at least one of said plurality of sections having a curved end.

7. A material assembly in accordance with claim 3, in which at least one of said plurality of sections being provided with at least one aperture therein.

8. A material assembly in accordance with claim 3, in which at least one of said plurality of sections having a substantially rectangular configuration.

9. A material assembly in accordance with claim 8, in which the unattached end of at least one of said plurality of sections having a serrated configuration.

10. A material assembly in accordance with claim 8, in which the unattached end of at least one of said plurality of sections having a V shaped configuration.

11. A material assembly comprising, in combination, a base material, a first layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material attached to said base material, and a second layer of a plurality of strips of flexible material, each of said plurality of strips of flexible material of said second layer being respectively positioned on at least a portion of said plurality of strips of said first layer of flexible material, each of said plurality of strips of said first and second layers of flexible material having two free end portions, each of said two free end portions comprising a plurality of sections each of which is independently movable with respect to the others, the ad jacent free end portions of adjacent strips of said first layers of flexible material overlapping each other, said plurality of strips of flexible material of said first and second layers consisting of felt and each of said felt strips in said first and second layers being arranged in parallel rows with respect to the other felt strips in the same layer, each one of said plurality of felt strips of said first and second layers being attached along substantially the center portion thereof to said base material, the length of each of said two free end portions of each strip of felt of said first and second layer being greater than the length between the center portions of adjacent strips of felt, each of said strips of felt of said second layer having a different color than the supporting felt strip of said first layer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Yost 92-4 Birek 112-411 Mercer 161-140 Stahl 161-66 Brunnzell 161135 Sands 112-410 10 MORRIS SUSSMAN, Primary Examiner. 

